Urgent-Cat can't urinate-vet is out of town!

Hi,
One key point will be what kind of crystals (if she indeed is having crystals form ) - struvite or calcium oxalate. Though there is now a food to address both (I believe by Royal Canin), overall, I do think feeding a homemade diet (one that your vet approves as properly balanced - there are several books out there including a key one by Dr. Strombeck, on various homemade diets for various conditions - i.e. needing lower protein and/or lower phosphorous) or a good canned food, is the best way to go.

They reason for feeding strictly a canned food diet is because of the moisture intake. Another thing that has helped some people increase the water intake for their cats is a water fountain. http://www.petmate.com/Catalog.plx?ID=205 http://www.petfountain.com/dpf.asp

The fluids help keep things flowing through the urinary tract. Different cats react differently to different diets, you could have 10 cats eating the same food and a couple of those could develop crystals from the diets and the rest not. The food you are feeding is a good food, so don't automatically discount that, just have your cat checked out and see where he/she recommends to go from there.

Originally Posted by Petnurse2265

They reason for feeding strictly a canned food diet is because of the moisture intake. Another thing that has helped some people increase the water intake for their cats is a water fountain. http://www.petmate.com/Catalog.plx?ID=205 http://www.petfountain.com/dpf.asp

The fluids help keep things flowing through the urinary tract. Different cats react differently to different diets, you could have 10 cats eating the same food and a couple of those could develop crystals from the diets and the rest not. The food you are feeding is a good food, so don't automatically discount that, just have your cat checked out and see where he/she recommends to go from there.

Click to expand...

We have had good luck with the water fountain. Our oldest cat has had a long history of UTIs - she's twelve and has 10 years of them. The vet gave us a special canned food and she gets that twice a day in addition to her dry. But she drinks a lot more water with the fountain (after playing with the bubbles). We've now gone almost two years without an incident.

Originally Posted by katachtig

We have had good luck with the water fountain. Our oldest cat has had a long history of UTIs - she's twelve and has 10 years of them. The vet gave us a special canned food and she gets that twice a day in addition to her dry. But she drinks a lot more water with the fountain (after playing with the bubbles). We've now gone almost two years without an incident.

Click to expand...

What fountain are you using?

Originally Posted by elizwithcat

What fountain are you using?

Click to expand...

We're using the Drinkwell. It can be kind of noisy but it's in the same room as the aquarium which is worse. If you do a search on the forums here, there have been a number of threads discussing the pros and cons of the different fountains. I've been very pleased with how my cat drinks a lot more.

UTIs with her are a major pain because she has a sensitive stomach so she doesn't do pills or liquids well. She just throws up everything within a half hour. All antibotics have to be done intravenously. Fortunately my husband was an EMT at one time and could take care of it.

What can I expect to be done at the office visit and what course of action(s) can the vet chose to take? (Change in diet? Antibiotics? Meds?)

How will the vet determine what caused this? From what I've learned it could have been a number of things.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Ragdollmommy

What can I expect to be done at the office visit and what course of action(s) can the vet chose to take? (Change in diet? Antibiotics? Meds?)

How will the vet determine what caused this? From what I've learned it could have been a number of things.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

WIth our vet, she usually does a urinalysis to see if there are crystals or blood in the urine. Our experience has been a treatment of antibotics and a diet based on the findings of the urinalysis. She really couldn't give us a cause. In her opinion, some cats are just prone to it. This cat is also a manx and can have nerve problems in their lower back.

I would suggest discussing what you have learned with the vet to understand how he determines the problem and what why he selects the course of action.

Originally Posted by Ragdollmommy

What can I expect to be done at the office visit and what course of action(s) can the vet chose to take? (Change in diet? Antibiotics? Meds?)

How will the vet determine what caused this? From what I've learned it could have been a number of things.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I would try and get a fresh urine sample to take with you, that will be very helpful in making a diagnosis, if you get it early then put tje sample in the fridge. By doing a urinalysis the vet can see if there are crystals, bacteria, white or red blood cells, which will tell him/her what the problem is, and how to treat it.

Originally Posted by Petnurse2265

I would try and get a fresh urine sample to take with you, that will be very helpful in making a diagnosis, if you get it early then put tje sample in the fridge. By doing a urinalysis the vet can see if there are crystals, bacteria, white or red blood cells, which will tell him/her what the problem is, and how to treat it.

Click to expand...

How would one get the sample??

If your lucky some cats will pee in the litterbox with no litter in it, then you dump it into a container.

You can put those styrofoam packing peanuts in the bottom of the litter box, they won't absorb the urine.

You can take a plastic trash bag and cover the litter in the litter box with it, then collect the urine off of that.

If you have a cat peeing outside the litterbox then you can put the trash bag in the place the cat likes to pee.

If you have more than one cat or more than one litterbox then you should put the cat you want a sample from in a room with one litterbox that you plan to get the sample from.

Your can is exhibiting all of the symptoms of a blocked urinary tract. thks iwll not correct itself. It's like a plug and hwen the urine can't come out it backs up poisoning the cat and irreparably damaging the kidneys. Your cat is sleeping because she is slowly being poisoned by her own urine. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. You cannot wait until Monday. This can kill a cat in a matter of hours. Long before Monday arrives. Not only that, what could have been easily corrected, the more you wait, the higher the vet bill. That is, if your cat lives long enough to make it to the vet. From what I've read, not unless you get her to a vet NOW.

June,
She is doing fine and has been since last evening. (Maybe you missed that in one of my posts). Today, she is her regular self. I am still calling the vet first thing tomorrow to take her in to get checked out, but she is eating, drinking, urinating ... as normal.

Thank you to all of the wonderful people that responded to my concerns. I really appreciate it!

Took her to the vets early today. She is doing great. No problems. Advised to watch her and see if this happens again. No explanation as to what it was as all checked out okay.

Thank you so much for your quick responses!

That is really great news. Thanks for letting us know.
Lei

Wonderful news!! Thx for the update!! And I am so happy for your kitty and you!!

Thank you so much. It means a lot to me that there are "strangers" out there who cared enough to answer my questions and seemed genuinely concerned.

I'm relieved to hear it was just, hopefully, a false alarm.

Originally Posted by Ragdollmommy

Took her to the vets early today. She is doing great. No problems. Advised to watch her and see if this happens again. No explanation as to what it was as all checked out okay.

Thank you so much for your quick responses!

Click to expand...

So wonderful to hear!